This little girl is getting so confident and self-assured! She has a big week ahead of her, starting with her spay surgery on Tuesday. She’ll be focusing on recovering the rest of the week to prepare for the next steps in her adoption!

The Coconut Oil for Dogs post I wrote way back in June of 2012 is surprisingly one of SheSpeaksBark’s most viewed posts to date! That tells me that the topic is one that is certainly worth re-visiting. Incorporating coconut oil into the boys’ diet was a change that we made in our lifestyle shortly after going eco-friendly with their flea/tick prevention as well. Neither of those decisions have we regretted for even a moment!

There are so many benefits of using coconut oil with your dogs, and as far as I’m aware there are no side-effects either. Not to mention that additional benefits are constantly being discovered & proven in studies. It is also important to understand that there are two main ways that your pet can benefit from the addition of coconut oil in their life: internally & topically.

Benefits of Coconut Oil for Pets:

Improves cognitive health

Immune system improvement

Paw pad conditioner for dogs

Energy booster

Less doggie odor

Soothes hot spots

Less bad breath

Control dry skin

Condition skin/coat

Heals cuts, abrasions, wounds

In our home, we most often incorporate Tropical Traditions virgin coconut oil into Bear & Scooters diet by simply adding a scoop in with their food. They both happily devour it, and Scooter eats his meals better because of it. Occasionally Bear & Scooter might eat some leftover veggies that were cooked in coconut oil, and they always lick the spoon! I use (a different jar) of coconut oil as moisturizer after my shower, while Bear always begs for a lick

In our first post about coconut oil we’d only been using it for about two months. Now though, we’ve been using it with the dogs for more than two and a half years with great success. Coconut oil has become somewhat of a star ingredient in the health/beauty world since then and it’s now also considered one of the ‘Super Foods for Dogs‘.

Internal Benefits of Coconut Oil for Pets:

Improved digestion

Moisturize skin

Immune System boost

Increased nutrient absorption

Potentially reduces chance of cancer

Regulate thyroid

Prevention of parasites: both internal (worms) and external (fleas)

Feeding Instructions: Scooter gets 1 tsp in each meal, and Bear gets 1 TBS. It’s normal for coconut oil to change in consistency depending on the heat so sometimes it’s a drizzle, and other times it’s a bit more chunky and we break it up with a fork.

External/Topical Benefits of Coconut Oil for Pets:

Scrapes/cuts

Dry or cracked paws

Dried snouts

Hot Spots

Flea allergies

Application: While the application method could vary slightly depending on what you’re trying to treat. typically spreading a bit of softened coconut oil over the area is going to do the trick.

We were very excited to receive a premier issue of the new Dogster magazine in the mail. It has been a long time since I have subscribed to a dog magazine, although I like a number of them, and this one looks spectacular.

Locket, being the puppy she is, had to give it a good taste test first. “Nope, this is NOT for eating!”

Scooter also found an article we’ve bookmarked for Locket “6 Tips to Get your Dog to go Outside to Potty When It Rains” Currently not her strongest skill

We look forward to finishing reading all of the other great articles in this issue, and look forward to seeing what the future holds for Dogster magazine- we’re predicting great things!

Our foster puppy Locket is already pending adoption and will be going home as soon as she is spayed! We are so excited for her! She and Bear are bonding heavily and really enjoy each others company- in today’s photo they are spending some time out in the yard together. Locket is learning that all dogs need to go potty outside, and Bear has been a great teacher for her in this process! When she first arrived with us, Locket was scared of the outdoors, birds chirping, wind, everything- this photo makes me happy because she has already come so far!

I’ve noticed lately that Bear has been having a hard time hearing me when I want to call him in from the yard. My calls are going un answered until I throw in a sharp-pitched whistle or two. While it would be like Bear to practice a bit of selective listening, I don’t think that’s whats going on here. I think he’s just loosing his hearing a bit.

When we were asked to review the CLD Brands dog whistle, I immediately thought about how it could prove to be a great solution to help me call Bear back in from the yard. We’d never tried a dog whistle before, but since I was simply trying to capture his attention I thought it would work well for us. The CLD Brand dog whistle is very small and compact. I was actually afraid of loosing it, so we attached ours to the Duncan Lou Who key chain for increased visibility. And happiness.

Now of course, a dog training whistle can be used to train your dog to follow basic commands like sit, stay, and come as well. Whistle training your dog requires you to dedicate some time, patience, and practice just like any other training method does, and your pet is responding to different whistles instead of a voice command. The CLD Brand dog whistle IS audible to the human ear, which may surprise you as many people think all dog whistles can only be heard by dogs. There is a screw on the end of the whistle which you can tighten or loosen to adjust the pitch to a frequency that your dog best responds to.

Bear and I settled on two longer ‘blasts’ on the whistle as his command to come and it’s certainly working well for us! He’s pretty agreeable to come indoors once I’ve caught his attention and the whistle is working wonders as far as that’s concerned!

Have you ever tried a dog whistle with any of your pups before? What was your experience like?